A Baltimore jury on Tuesday awarded the City of Baltimore $266 million in damages after finding two pharmaceutical distribution companies, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen, liable for contributing to the city’s opioid epidemic.
"A jury agreed that the outsized impact on our city was a direct result of the actions of big pharma," Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott said following the ruling. "
The Baltimore Sun reports that the jury verdict was the culmination of a trial lasting more than six weeks.
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While the city placed much of the blame on the distributors, lawyers for the companies insisted that cartels and gangs were responsible for the opioid epidemic. The Baltimore Sun also reports that defense attorneys attributed blame to doctors who increasingly wrote prescriptions for painkillers.
However, the jury still found the companies liable for their role in the epidemic.
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Scott said the money from the judgment will go toward programs and initiatives to help reverse the epidemic.
"Today's verdict brings us one step closer to addressing the harm inflicted on our community, honoring the lives of the loved ones we lost, and seeking justice and healing for our residents who have endured heartbreak throughout this epidemic," he said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 80,000 people die from opioid overdoses annually. The City of Baltimore says it has been disproportionately impacted by the epidemic, with more than two overdose deaths per day.
